


Non-Sequitur

by desree_rd



Category: Primeval
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blink and You Miss It X-over: Phoenix Blue, Drabble Collection, Gen, Halloween
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-02
Updated: 2013-08-02
Packaged: 2017-12-22 04:48:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/909103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/desree_rd/pseuds/desree_rd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Primeval Drabble Collection</p>
<p>1) Back to the Beginning: There's just enough energy left to open one more anomaly.<br/>2) Internet Acquaintances: Connor logs in on an online forum to explain to someone the basics of covering one's tracks on the internet.<br/>3) Lost in Time: Helen figured something out too late.<br/>4) Discovery: On the evening of the 31st of October, Stephen found himself making Jack-o'-Lanterns with Connot in the mess hall of the university to put up outside Cutter's office.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Back to the Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> These are as much plotbunnies as drabbles, so if you feel like running with any of them, go ahead; just send me the link when you're done =)  
> Written back in 2010.

A/N: Set in some vague, bleak future after the S3 finale.

 

There's just enough energy left to open one more anomaly. Connor deliberates – not long, he doesn't have time to dally – which way to go. He only has four destinations from which to choose.

There's one he keeps coming back to.

Cutter has always insisted on not changing the past. But Connor has lost everyone to these anomalies; he can't help thinking: it's time they paid him back. Time to go back to where it started to go so wrong and put it right.

Stephen, at twenty-one, is everything Connor never imagined him to be: shy, impressionable and lonely.


	2. Internet Acquaintances

Connor, bored stupid, logs in on an online forum to explain to outOfTheAshes24 the basics of covering one's tracks on the internet. He doesn't think anything of it.

Two years later, Ash is as brilliant a hacker as Connor, and – and Connor appreciates it's pathetic – one of his best friends. They don't chat about private stuff; there's not much he actually knows about Ash (he free dives). But they argue about computers and Star Wars versus Star Trek, and that's worth a lot.

Cutter, back from another anomaly, mentions someone called Stephen, and it's like Claudia Brown again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't help myself. I watched Phoenix Blue for the first time, and I just couldn't help myself. (For those that don't already know: James Murray plays Stephen in Primeval and Rick Earnhardt aka Phoenix Blue in Phoenix Blue). Set vaguely early S3.


	3. Lost in Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a warning here, sort of, but I'm afraid it would give the game away, so go look at the end notes if you're really really really easy to squick.  
> And for the record: I don't like soap operas – like, at all. Even if no one will believe me after this. In my head, this is set after 2.07, but there's no reference.

She never told them this, but the first thing she noticed about Stephen were his eyes.

The same shade of blue as Nick's.

She hadn't understood, then, the spark of possessiveness that shot through her every time she saw her young student. She still didn't understand when she came back.

She never told them this, but when she disappeared she had been eight weeks pregnant.

She wasn't suited to be a mother.

Three years later, an anomaly opened back into civilization. She left the little boy there without looking back.

It took her entirely too long to make the connection.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Incest


	4. Discovery

After the fact, Stephen couldn't tell exactly how Connor had roped him into it. This wasn't America, and Halloween wasn't as popular – not yet, anyway. But on the evening of the 31st of October, he found himself making Jack-o'-Lanterns with his friend in the mess hall of the university to put up outside Cutter's office.

Conversation had, somewhat predictably, turned to the subject at hand: ghosts and demons, paganism and the origins of Halloween.

“How come you know so much about pagan beliefs?” Connor asked, heaping a handful of the spaghetti-like orange flesh of his pumpkin into a bowl.

“Allison was fascinated by the subject. Everything, from Judo-Christian mythology to vampirism, Santería, demonology, you name it. We used to have these stupid arguments whether or not – ”

Abruptly, he stopped. Fixing Connor with suddenly intense eyes, he asked, “Can you tell me the locations of the anomaly sites we've come across so far?”

“Well, of course, but what do you – ”

Stephen didn't let him finish. “Come on,” he said, perfunctorily wiping his hands off the sticky pumpkin innards, and grabbed Connor by his wrist. “I need a map.”

When Nick came by his office some time later, he found them hunched over one of his tables, just enough space cleared in all the clutter to allow for a map of England to be spread out. Connor's laptop was perched precariously on top of a stack of books, while Stephen was busy connecting dots on a transparent projector foil.

Heads put together, the two young men didn't notice him until Nick pointedly cleared his throat, but once he caught their attention, their heads snapped up to reveal identical, excited smiles.

“You remember how you told Lester that anomalies were like earthquakes?” Stephen asked him, blue eyes sparkling. “That they had break-lines?”

Both of the lads were grinning like madmen, triumphant with the new discovery, whatever it was. Nick felt a thread of excitement unfurl within himself just from looking at them.

“You were right!” Stephen told him, exchanging a look with Connor.

Nick's eyes widened in disbelief when Connor concluded: “Each and every anomaly we've encountered opened along a ley-line!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not exactly canon-compliant, but it's an interesting theory anyway...


End file.
